


Not What You Think

by Caedmon



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Illegal Activities, Light Angst, Sex Toys of Doom, illegal sex toys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 04:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6784735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caedmon/pseuds/Caedmon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose and the Doctor have landed on the planet Vashti. Unfortunately, the Doctor is not familiar with the local customs and laws on this planet, and lands them both in a spot of hot water.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TenRoseForeverandever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenRoseForeverandever/gifts).



> This is a birthday fic for the lovely, talented, wonderful, amazing TenRoseForeverandever! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I hope you like it, dear!
> 
> Lunaseemoony issued a dare to write a fic about illegal sex toys on timepetalsprompts, and tenroseforeverandever made it a Triple Dog Dare, which I am constitutionally unable to resist. But I took it in a bit of a different direction... 
> 
> Thank you to goingtothetardis for the lightning-quick beta and idea for the title!!
> 
> As usual - I own nothing but the mistakes.  
> Kudos and comments keep the muse fat and happy!  
> Come say hi! caedmonfaith.tumblr.com

It had been the Doctor’s idea to come to the planet Vashti, and Rose was of the opinion now that it was an exceptionally _bad_ idea. 

Usually, when Rose ended up in a jail cell, she knew what she had done to earn such a fate; simple, minor and mistaken though the infraction may be. She also usually ended up in a cell with the Doctor. Neither of these were true today. Today, she was in a cell by herself, separated from the Doctor, and she had absolutely no idea what she’d done to deserve this. 

They’d come to Vashti because the Doctor told her that the glass on this planet was similar to stained glass, but occurred naturally. The Vashtans had sculpted the glass into statues, and he said that they looked like smooth piles of jewels in various shapes. Rose had been intrigued; she’d always enjoyed visiting cathedrals and touring castles, and the windows were always her favorite part. So she’d been enthusiastic about the visit. She looked forward to seeing the way these statues caught the light and thought that this time, the Doctor seemed to have had an almost romantic idea. Not that they were romantic, mind. The Doctor would never go for that.

She and the Doctor had been touring the city, hand-in-hand, for only a few minutes when it happened. They were looking up at the marvelous statues in the statue garden he’d brought her to when Rose had doubled over with a stomach cramp. Just a cramp, she’d told him, but being his usual overprotective self, he’d insisted on scanning her to find out the cause of the problem and soothe her pain. He’d pulled out the sonic and aimed it at her lower belly, and Rose thought she’d die of mortification if he told her that she simply needed to go to the bathroom. She’d felt immediately better, however, and told him so, thanking him.

The next thing she knew, there were uniformed, purple-skinned, humanoid guards upon them, telling them they were under arrest. The Doctor demanded to know why, but was met with stony silence. Rose had been through enough arrests with the Doctor to know to keep her mouth shut and do as she was told by the guards, then follow the Doctor’s instructions once they were locked away. Remembering all she’d learned, she’d gone along with them, meekly. 

Things had not gone the way they usually did.

This time, they’d been separated into not only different cells, but different _wings_ of the jail. Rose had felt panic rising and asked her captors, then, just what she had done. They hadn’t responded at all, and she’d tasted bitter adrenaline in the back of her mouth when they closed and locked the door behind her. 

Now, hours later, she sat in her (admittedly comfortable) cell, and she’d had no contact with the outside world. She wondered what the Doctor was doing and assumed he must be using his magnificent gob to talk them out of this one. She certainly hoped so, anyway. 

The door to her cell swung open, and two armed guards entered. One was carrying a machine of some sort, it looked like a printer or something, and the other was empty handed. Rose tensed at the machine, worried that it may be a torture device of some kind. The guard with the machine went to the small table in the corner of her room and set it down, while the other guard stood before her. 

“My name is Medlin, and I am the interrogator,” he said, grasping his arms behind her back. 

His tone was not vicious or violent, and Rose felt a surge of bravery. “I have some questions, too, yeah? Like, ‘where is the Doctor’ and ‘why am I here’?”

“You are here because you and your companion, this ‘Doctor’, broke our laws.”

“What laws? We didn’t do anything wrong!”

“But you did, Miss…”

“Tyler. Rose Tyler.”

“Right. As I was saying, Miss Tyler, here on Vashti, we have a strict moral code. Men and women are to be married before they appear together in public. That can be forgiven in this case, considering you are off-worlders and that is not a law - more of a societal norm. What _cannot_ be forgiven and forgotten, however, are your affectionate displays or your use of a marital aid - particularly in public.”

Rose was confused. “The Doctor and I are _friends_ ,” she insisted. “Where we’re from, friends are allowed to show affection to one another. And what is a ‘marital aid’?”

“It’s the device your partner was using in an attempt to bring you...pleasure.”

Rose was still confused. “The only way he was trying to bring me pleasure was by showing me your glass sculptures, and how beautiful they are.”

Medlin looked at her disbelievingly, cocking a violet eyebrow. “Is that so?” he asked sardonically. “We disagree, and even if we didn’t, there’s still the matter of the affectionate displays in a public area. Now, as I was telling you, I am the interrogator.”

“You can’t torture me,” she threatened. “The Doctor will tear this place apart if you do.”

Medlin chuckled. “No, no. You won’t be tortured, we like to think of ourselves as a peaceful, hospitable planet. You will be granted a trial before a magistrate, and a Speaker of the Law will decide your fate. You won’t appear alone; there will be a Counselor of the Law provided to you.”

“I want to speak with my attorney, then” Rose demanded, remembering the practices and customs of earth. “I want to talk to who will be defending me.”

“You won’t meet them until you get to court. And there’s no reason for you to fear, Miss Tyler. I will merely be questioning you. It would be best for you if you’re honest. I will know if you’re not, and it won’t go well for you.”

Rose took deep breaths. The Doctor was bound to be figuring a way out of this for them. She had faith in his ability to get them out of here alive, and without having to serve out prison terms. She looked over at the machine on the table, beside the other guard, and felt her anxiety rise again. “What’s that for, then?” she demanded, pointing at the printer-shaped machine.

“Ardson is here to monitor the proceedings and make sure you get a fair interrogation. The kiadon there on the table is going to record and interpret our conversation.”

She cast another wary eye at the kiadon, then at Ardson, who sat benignly beside it. How was this box going to interpret their conversation? She had no clue, but she only had one way to find out - and it seemed she was _going_ to find out. She steeled herself for the interrogation.

“Alright,” she said, squaring her shoulders and facing Medlin. “I’m ready. Ask away.”

~*~O~*~

Medlin had asked the standard questions she would expect in an interrogation, except that he focused on the Doctor and her relationship with him for a long time. She’d been as honest as she could without revealing her feelings, telling him that they were strictly platonic friends who travelled together, and that nothing untoward had ever happened. He seemed skeptical (and rightly so), then launched into a littany of questions about her sexual relationship with the Doctor and just why they felt the need to use a marital aid in public. 

Rose was mortified when she finally realized that by ‘marital aid’, Medlin meant ‘sex toy’, and he thought that the Doctor had been trying to bring her off in the middle of the statue garden.

“You’re an off-worlder,” Medlin had said. “And you claim to be a traveler. Surely you acquaint yourself with the local customs of the places you visit before you go?”

She’d been angry and humiliated. The Doctor brought her to these places. She was a shop girl from South London. How was she to know what different cultures and species did?

After several hours of embarrassing questions, Medlin and Ardson had seemed satisfied with her answers and left her to her mortification.

~*~O~*~

A short while later, two guards appeared and put her in handcuffs, taking her down the hall and into what appeared to be a courtroom. She was uncuffed and told to stand behind a podium, which she did. A few moments passed while she looked around the room nervously, then a Vashtan woman in long indigo robes appeared, taking her place behind a tall desk. 

“Miss Tyler,” she began, “my name is Shara-ni. I am the Speaker of the Law for this province, and I am here to judge your case.”

“Please, Shara-ni,” Rose began immediately, “we meant no harm to anyone. We weren’t aware of the customs of this planet and I promise you, we never would have broken any laws had we been aware of them.”

Shara-ni ignored her, shuffling papers in front of her. “According to the kiadon, you are in a romantic relationship with your codefendant, the Doctor.”

Rose protested her innocence. “No, your honor, the Doctor and me...we’re just friends.”

The Speaker of the Law looked at her then, raising an eyebrow. “Oh? Is that so? I’m forced to disagree, Miss Tyler. The kiadon indicates romantic inclinations on both your parts.”

Rose stood there, stunned. _On both of our parts?_ she thought wildly. 

She must have spoken aloud, because Shara-ni answered, “Yes, on _both_ of your parts,” Shara-ni said. “Both of your kiadon readings indicate that you are in love with the other and have inclinations and desires of a...of a nature that may lead you to use a marital aid.”

“That’s not possible. He doesn’t want me like that. We’re just mates.”

“‘Just mates’ don’t use marital aids on one another,” Shara-ni replied sardonically. 

“It’s not a marital aid,” Rose protested. “It’s a sonic screwdriver. A tool. It fixes things, detects things.”

“A tool, you say? Tools don’t typically give someone physical pleasure when they’re employed, unless they’re a marital aid.”

“I was having a pain in my stomach. The Doctor used it to make the pain go away.”

“And for no other purpose?”

“No, your honor.”

“Despite his desire to bring you sexual and romantic pleasure?”

Rose flushed. “I don’t believe that the Doctor has any desire to bring me sexual or romantic pleasure. We’re _just mates_.”

Shara-ni scoffed. “The Doctor protested the same thing, but I assure you, the biological readouts indicated otherwise. For both of you.”

She opened her mouth, but no sound would come out. Shara-ni watched her carefully. “I suggest to you, just as I did your Doctor, that you figure out a solution to your issue of unrequited romantic feelings. And that you stay away from planets whose customs you don’t know.”

Rose nodded at this last part. “Yes, your honor.”

Shara-ni got to her feet, shuffling papers as she stood. “You’re dismissed back to your cell while I deliberate. That is all.”

“Thank you, your honor.”

~*~O~*~

When Medlin and Ardson came back a few hours later they clanged her door open, waking Rose from a fitful sleep. She sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

“What’s happening?”

“You’re being permitted to leave,” Medlin said. “But you are banished from Vashti and must never come back.”

“And the Doctor?”

“He is being permitted to leave as well,” Medlin said. “We’re here to escort you sign your banishment papers, and then to your ship.”

Rose wasn’t about to argue and jumped to her feet, following them eagerly. Medlin did no more than put one hand on her bicep gently and led her to a room upstairs. She looked around the room when she got there, raking her eyes over the place for the Doctor. She spotted him at a nearby desk. His hands were cuffed behind his back - apparently, his jailers weren’t as trusting of him as Medlin and Ardson had been. 

Her anger and humiliation washed away in a flash when she saw that despite being restrained, he seemed alright. She shook her arm free of Medlin’s grip and rushed to him. 

“Doctor!”

He looked up, and his eyes were a clear warning to stay back. She stopped in her tracks, just a couple of feet away. She’d forgotten that the whole reason they were in this mess was because they were so affectionate with each other. The hug she’d been going for, instinctively, would have been a fantastically bad idea right as they were about to be released. 

Medlin came up behind her almost immediately after the slid to a stop in front of the Doctor and took her arm again, a bit more firm this time. “You need to come with me - you have to sign the documentation of your banishment.” She followed, but not before looking up at the Doctor again.

“Doctor?” she asked, checking with him. 

“It’s alright, Rose,” he said quietly. “Sign the papers and we can go home.” His tone was reassuring, but she could see that his eyes were troubled. His head was still a little bowed, and his demure attitude frightened her. He looked...embarrassed or something. Cowed. Had they asked him the same questions they’d asked her? It worried Rose; if he discovered that she had those kinds of feelings for him, he’d surely send her home. He didn’t need a silly little human hanging all over him, she knew. 

Panic rose like bile in her throat, along with the return of the embarrassment and crossness she’d felt just a few moments before. She didn’t react, though, she only nodded at the Doctor, indicating she understood then followed Medlin to the table and took her seat, signing what she was told to sign. She’d sign whatever they wanted her to. Frankly, she’d do whatever she had to do to assure their release. Rose was ready to put Vashti behind her.

 

~*~O~*~

They had been escorted to the TARDIS without any detours, and now Rose sat in the jump seat, staring blankly at the console while the Doctor launched them into the Vortex. He seemed cheery after their escape from trouble, but Rose felt much differently. She’d been humiliated, her feelings for the Doctor being revealed so openly. And the kiadon had indicated that he felt the same way!

Well, it was faulty. Not for her - she knew all too well how she felt about the Doctor - but it had to have been faulty for him. He’d never said or done anything to indicate… Her confusion, frustration and humiliation had returned behind the relief of being able to leave, and she didn’t really want to be around him right now. Especially now that he’d been told how she felt about him.

“Well, Rose Tyler, where to next?” he asked cheerfully. “That was a bit of a bust, but we could always go to-”

“How come you didn’t tell me about the local customs on Vashti?”

“I...er...I landed us too early in the planet’s history. I meant to land us two hundred years later, when the societal norms and laws have changed.”

“Well, you missed,” Rose said, acid lacing her words.

“I know.” He hung his head. “I’d meant for it to be a nice trip for you.”

“It wasn’t,” she said. “It was miserable, and humiliating, and...and…”

“I’m sorry, Rose.” He took a step towards her. “Let me make it up to you. I’ll take you to Mailig, it’s lovely this time of year. Well, the time of year I’m going to take us to. We’ll get chips and fruity drinks! There’s a-”

“I don’t want to go anywhere right now,” Rose cut him off, pointedly ignoring the slump of his shoulders and hurt look in his eyes. “I think I’m gonna go lie down.”

“But it’s only the afternoon,” he protested. “We’ve got plenty of time if we want to-”

“I’m going to lie down, Doctor,” she repeated firmly. “I have a headache. We can go somewhere tomorrow, but I need a little time after...after Vashti.”

He studied her, and there was something in his eyes that she didn’t quite understand. “Alright,” he said after a minute. “Shall I wake you in a while?”

“Please don’t. I’ll find you later,” she promised.

He nodded. “Sleep well, Rose.”

She didn’t answer, she just waved her hand behind her in acknowledgement as she went down the corridor to her room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor makes it up to Rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FLUFF AHOY

She was lying in her bed, looking up at the swirling vortex on the ceiling, when she heard a gentle knock on the door. Rose sighed. She still didn’t want to see the Doctor, but she knew she couldn’t avoid him forever. She’d been hiding in her room for several hours.

“I’m here,” she called.

The door opened at once and the Doctor poked his head in. “Can I come in?”

Rose bit back another sigh. “Yes, come in.” She sat up on her bed, pulling the pink throw blanket she kept a the foot of her bed overtop her in almost a protective gesture. The Doctor sat in the place cleared by the blanket. 

“I know you said not to wake you, but I couldn’t wait. I came to ask you to dinner,” he said.

“Doctor -”

“Please, Rose? You can’t stay mad at me forever. Look at me. I’m charming.” He gave her a dazzling smile and rocked his head back and forth just a little, as if tossing his hair. 

A smile threatened the corner of Rose’s mouth. He was charming, at that. “Where are we going?”

“Ridsh. It’s a lovely little resort planet. I thought we’d make a bit of a holiday of it,” he said, obviously proud of himself.

“What’s this planet like?” 

“It’s warm weather, and I’ve parked us near the beach, just beside the resort. We can still do chips and fruity drinks, if you like.”

“Do you know the local customs and laws this time?” she asked with a bit of a bite in her voice.

He had the grace to look sheepish. “Yes. Very similar to Earth’s. We’ll be safe as houses.” She looked doubtful, and his tone turned wheedling. “Please? Can we go?”

Rose gave a little shake of her head. Once he got an idea in that magnificent Time Lord brain of his… “Alright, just let me pack.”

“The Tardis already has clothes picked out for you. She’s mad at me and wants to help me make it up to you.”

She reached behind her and patted the wall. “Thanks, girl.”

“Right!” he said, jumping up. We’ll be landing in a few minutes, as soon as I get back to the console room. The Tardis already has an outfit picked out for you for dinner, if you want.”

“Dinner would be nice,” she smiled a little. “I’ll go get changed.”

“Molto bene!”

~*~O~*~ 

The Tardis had picked out a knee-length, flowing white dress for Rose to wear with some sandals. Rose pulled on her denim jacket as well, thinking it may get cool. She never really knew what to expect with the Doctor. She pulled her hair into a french twist and put on her makeup and a bracelet, wondering just what kind of place he was taking her to. When she was satisfied with how she looked, she went out into the console room to meet the Doctor. 

He stopped what he was doing to just look at her when she entered the room, and the look on his face reminded Rose of the time they’d gone to Cardiff and met Charles Dickens. Then he underlined the similarities when he closed his mouth enough to speak.

“Blimey, Rose. You look beautiful.”

“For a human?” she asked, touching her tongue to the corner of her mouth.

“No. You look beautiful, full-stop.” Rose ducked her head shyly, and he bounded over to her, sweeping his coat off of the railing and putting it on. He offered his elbow. “Shall we?”

Rose nodded, smiling in spite of herself, and slipped her hand into his arm.

He led her to the doors of the Tardis and they stepped out onto Ridsh. Rose felt the awe and wonder she always did whenever there was a new world on the other side of the Tardis doors. Ridsh looked very much like earth, except the sky was a mustard yellow and the clouds were a soft, cottony blue. The Doctor had, indeed, landed them near the beach, settling them amongst dunes of green sand. Rose took a step or two beyond the Doctor towards the ocean and let the breeze blow in her face, ruffling the dress around her legs. 

The Doctor walked up behind her and took her hand it in a loose but firm hold. Rose gave his hand a squeeze and he looked at her, beaming.

“I’m still cross with you, you know,” she told him..

“I know. I deserve it,” he told her. “But I want to make it up to you. And that’ll never happen again, I promise.”

Rose raised a skeptical eyebrow. “How can you be so sure?”

His freckles stood out against his reddening cheeks. “I can’t be 100% sure, but I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

She thought for a minute, and felt her anger leave her with the ebb of the crystal tide. She believed him, believed _in_ him, and only wished that he loved her the way she loved him. 

~*~O~*~

The Doctor had pulled out all of the stops for dinner. He told her that the restaurant he’d landed them at was the most sought-after on the planet, and while she’d been getting dressed, he’d landed six months previously to get a reservation. Stepping into the restaurant, she could see why. It was very elegant, with candlelight illuminating each table, champagne in buckets of ice and when their food appeared, it came under under silver domes. Rose had let the Doctor order for her - which she never did - but when her selection came, she was glad he had. The food was delicious, and Rose was suitably impressed. The Doctor preened. 

“So…” he began. “Vashti. Were they cruel to you?”

Rose shook her head. “Medlin and Ardson were kinder to me than most of the places we’ve been jailed.”

“They didn’t…” He picked at his food, pushing it around on his plate. “They didn’t do anything to you, did they?”

She softened. He was always so worried for her well-being, and it warmed her. “No,” she told him. “Medlin was a little...insistent, in his questioning, but nobody hurt me,” she told him.

“That’s good, that’s good.” He pushed the food around a bit more.

“How about you? Did they hurt you?”

The Doctor’s eyes flicked up to hers, then back down at his plate. “I wasn’t very cooperative at first, when I didn’t know where you were.”

She felt a prickle of alarm. “Did they hurt you?”

“They shocked me once,” he told her, giving a little shrug. Rose gasped. “It only hurt for a moment, but it worried me for you.”

“I was fine,” she told him. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Right as rain,” he said with a brilliant smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes. 

They ate in silence for a few more moments, both lost in their thoughts, and Rose was dying to know what questions they asked him. She both wanted to know, and didn’t want to hear his answer.

The Doctor took the option of asking right out of her hands. “They questioned you?”

Rose nodded, chewing her food, then swallowed. Hard.

“What did they want to know?”

_Oh God, oh God, oh God. How to tell him?_

“They wanted to know about the nature of our relationship. And the sonic screwdriver,” she said, fighting down the blush she felt on her cheeks. 

“Ah. They asked me the same things.”

 _What did you tell them?_ sprung to her lips, but she bit it back.

Again, it was like he was reading her mind. “I told them that the sonic was a highly advanced tool, and not what they thought it was. I also told them that I’d use it again, right in front of them, if they’d hurt you.”

Rose smiled at his low, fierce tone. 

“And I told them that we were just mates,” he said. “But, well, ah, they didn’t believe me.”

She shook her head, her face like it was on fire. “They didn’t believe me, either.”

“They were right not to.”

Rose’s head snapped up, her eyes wide. “What’d you say?”

“I said, ‘they were right not to believe me’. I was lying some of the time,” he said in a steady voice, his eyes boring into hers.

_Oh God, oh God, oh God._

She stumbled over her words. “Which...which questions?”

“The ones about how I feel about you. I lied to them and told them that there was nothing there but friendship.”

_Oh God, oh God, oh God._

“You...you were lying?” she squeaked.

He nodded. “It hasn’t been ‘just friendship’ for a long time, Rose, and the kiadon picked up on that.”

“But -”

“And they told me,” he started, then bent back to pick at his plate. “They told me that you’d failed as well.”

Rose’s eyes unexpectedly pricked with tears, embarrassment and hope fighting for dominance in her limbic system. She shook her head and blinked back the tears. “Yeah,” she said. “I lied.”

The Doctor’s smile would light up the room, she thought, and she returned it.

He also did exactly what he always did and backed off of the topic, pushing his plate away. “So, Rose Tyler, I believe I promised you fruity drinks and the beach.”

She sat stunned for a moment, shocked and a little hurt that they would get so close, _so close_ , and then he would back away. The tears welled in her eyes again, and she put her fork down on her plate. 

“Sounds lovely,” was all she was able to say.

~*~O~*~

Dark had fallen by the time they exited the restaurant, and the Doctor wasted no time in taking her hand. He delivered on the fruity drinks, as promised, and they were each given a tall glass that looked like a bit of hollowed-out wood. Rose bent her head to take a sip and he smiled when she told him it was good. 

“It’s thrigfruit,” he said. “A bit like mangos on earth.”

Rose just smiled and sat with him at the little table provided by the drink vendor under the twin moons, sipping her drink. 

When they were done, the Doctor took her hand again and they walked towards the beach. She bent to slip off her strappy sandals, hooking them on the finger of one hand while the other was in the Doctor’s. They started walking, slowly, aimlessly, and the Doctor told her all about the local history, culture, and various biological facts. She spotted seashells made of glittering crystal and they picked one out together as a memento. When they started walking again, the Doctor took it from her hand and slipped it into his pocket, patting it to indicate its security before he took her hand and laced their fingers together again. 

He never mentioned what he’d they’d talked about in the restaurant, and Rose didn’t know if she was glad or disappointed. 

After forty-five minutes or so, they turned back towards the Tardis, still hand-in-hand, but now Rose’s feet splashed at the edge of the surf. When they were able to see the Tardis, the Doctor stopped her, stepping in front of her so they were face-to-face. 

“Rose…”

She waited, but he seemed to be grasping for words. Finally, she prompted him. “Yes, Doctor?”

“The kiadon has a galaxy-wide reputation for never being wrong, but I have to ask anyway. When you said you were lying, did you mean...well...they put me up in front of a judge -”

“Shara-ni,” Rose supplied.

“Yes. And she told me...well, she told me that you had been lying as well. I just want to know...were you lying about the same questions I was lying about?”

Rose swallowed hard, then nodded. “I lied about how I feel about you,” she whispered, barely audible over the surf. “It hasn’t been ‘just mates’ for me for a long time, either. Since, well, since early days. Well before you chan-”

He cut her off, his mouth covering hers, his hand going up to thread through her hair to hold her face close to his. The kiss was tender, his lips gently and slowly moving against hers. She responded hesitantly at first, then all fear fell away like stepping out of a dark room into a sunny day, and she melted into him fully. His mouth sought to taste hers and she acquiesced, opening to him and wrapping her arms around his neck, letting her sandals hang between his shoulder blades.

The Doctor gentled the kiss slowly, planting soft little kisses on her lips, then her eyelids and her nose. He left his arms around her waist, holding her body close to his. When she opened her eyes to look at him, his eyes were soft but the look in them was familiar. It was the way he looked at her most of the time, especially when he thought she wasn’t looking. 

“I love you, Rose,” he whispered.

Rose’s eyes filled with tears again, but this time the reason was happy. “Oh, Doctor. I love you, too.”

He captured her lips again, his lips sliding over hers until he traced the seam of her mouth with his tongue. She parted them and he darted his tongue in, chasing hers. She moaned a little, unable to help herself, and he squeezed her closer.

Pulling away, he lay his forehead against hers. Both of them were breathing heavy and Rose bit her lip, committing this moment, his taste and the feel of herself in his arms, where she’d always wanted to be, to memory. 

“Marry me, Rose.”

She raised her forehead from his and looked at him, her brows knitted in confusion. “What’d you say?”

“I said, ‘marry me’. Let’s do it. Let’s make a go of us.”

“We don’t have to be married to make a go of it, Doctor.”

“I know, but I want to be. I want to know, without any doubt, that you’re mine.”

“You should know that already,” she told him, putting a soft kiss on his lips. 

“You are?”

“Always. I’m going to stay with you forever.”

“I want the rest of the universe to know it, too. I want to be able to show you how I feel on any planet, at any time. If we’re married, we never have to hide what we are, like we did on Vashti. We wouldn’t have gotten in trouble there.”

She touched her tongue to the corner of her mouth. “Yes, we would’ve. You used a ‘marital aid’ on me, remember?”

He chuckled. “I suppose I did. But if we’re married, we would’ve been in _less_ trouble.”

Rose flushed and giggled. “That so?”

“Oh, yes,” he growled. “So marry me.”

She was still giggling, but schooled her face into something more serious. “You’re having me on, but that’s really not funny.”

“I’m not joking.” 

The look in his eyes was certainly earnest. She’d never seen him look so serious.

“You really mean it, don’t you?” she asked him, still incredulous.

“I’m completely serious, Rose. If you say the word, we’ll go get right back in that Tardis,” he tilted his head to indicate their home, “and go to London. I’ll ask your mum for your hand and buy you a ring, and we’ll do this whole thing in proper, human fashion. I’ll even wear a tux. It’ll be the best thing that ever happened to me in a tuxedo, I assure you.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I’ll wear anything you want me to, s’long as I can wear my chucks.”

“Mum may slap you,” she said, grasping for a thought, any thought. Her mind was reeling. 

“It would be worth a hundred slaps, a thousand slaps, to have you for my wife.”

Rose looked deep into his eyes, searching for the truth. “Doctor, do you really mean it?”

“With every bit of both my hearts, Rose Tyler. Please, marry me.” A tear spilled from her eye, cutting a crystal trail down her cheek. “Say you will.”

Rose nodded. “I’ll marry you.”

He whooped for joy, then picked her up and swung her around, laughing. Rose laughed too: the happiness she felt was just too great to be bottled up inside of her. He sat her down and kissed her, hard, too exuberant to slow himself down at first. It was only a moment, though, until kissing became touching. And touching was headed toward something else.”

“Doctor,” she broke away, breathless. “We’re on a beach.”

“Yes, we are,” he agreed, dragging his lips down her neck.

Rose closed her eyes and tried to think. It was hard when he was nipping at her pulse point and had his hands on her, roaming like that.

“Shouldn’t we get back to the Tardis, if we’re not going to the resort?”

“We can still go to the resort,” he told her his mouth still roaming, now on her collarbones. “I booked the honeymoon suite.”

“You didn’t.”

“I did,” he told her. “What else should I have done after Shara-ni told me you feel the same way I do?”

She laughed for joy again, which turned into a breathy moan as he brought his lips and tongue back up towards her mouth. “Oh, that’s brilliant.”

“You know what else is brilliant, Rose Tyler?”

She didn’t feel like a guessing game at the moment and her mind was a little muddled so she just said, “Hmm?”

“The sonic doesn’t have a setting that would make it a ‘marital aid’.”

Rose rather thought they wouldn’t need it, but didn’t get to say so before the Doctor spoke again.

“It has three hundred and forty-seven.”

And when kissed her breathless again, she thought that maybe Vashti hadn’t been such a bad idea, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, tenroseforeverandever!!!!


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